Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

[Ken from PG]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Larry,
As a kid the names of Mickey Thompson and Parnelli Jones were hero names. I remember slapping together a model of Mickey's 4 engine car and then looking at as it was the best thing ever. Thank you for writing as your story is "edge of the seat" facinating. I look forward to your next posting. Ken

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

John, Gordon and his young son Robert, Roger O'Day from the old BMB crew and I hit the old house at 10 A.M. and these guys attacked the chore at hand with a vengeance. Work benches, cabinets, box after box of miscellaneous stuff, some of which I had been toting around since the 60's and 70's for some unknown reason. Three pick- ups, and an RV were loaded to the hilt, and away we went. Gordon had to make one more trip back for a couple of cabinets that were to go to the hangar at Deer Valley Airport and we all met there for lunch by 1:30 or so. I must say, at risk of embarrassing them that they are great friends and I am so very fortunate to have them. I am truly blessed to have such men as a part of my life. I am settled into my new home, and got my gate pass for access to the hangar today and now we can begin reworking the F1 racer "Dancing Queen" for Reno 08. I am really excited to have this opportunity to participate at Reno again. Getting late, and I am tired and also elated that this move is over, and will pick up on the story line tomorrow. Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

KEN, How is the rebuild of CM coming along? This thread has kind of lost it's focus since I have been telling my old war stories, but there seems to be interest in my ramblings, so I will continue posting some of this stuff, and it will eventually lead to BMB/CM and aviation oriented posts.

Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

We got the FWD (front wheel drive) ready to go to Phoenix InternationaL speedway for some serious testing, and Sammy had some previous commitments, so Congdon was going to be driving. Goodyear had come up with a telemetry system, and we had all of the required pieces installed on the car. I will try to explain what all was going to be monitored: A disk mounted on each front wheel, and some kind of gizmo that would send wheel speed to the "trailer" and would tell us if we were getting wheel spin, we were running a limited slip differential in the drive train, and we needed to find out if the left front was driving equally with the right front in the turns under power. There was another thing that gave throttle position, one for engine RPM, and there were two (transducers) I think thet called them, one at the front of the car and one at the rear that measured lateral G forces so that we could tell if the car was trying to spin out. There was another device mounted on each corner of the suspension to record how much shock travel there was to measure vertical G forces as the car went through the banked turns, and bounced in the bumps. This was a very antiquated system by todays standard, but it worked. It printed out all the readings on a long, long sheet of paper. With the car sitting static a baseline was established for each of the items to be were monitored, and after a run the readings were printed as to whether anything was below this baseline or above it , and by how much. Gary took it out and ran a few "easy" laps and came in and we got a print out of each item just to establish that all systems were "go". The Goodyear guys were content with the readings on this, our first print out. Gary went out and started running some "hot" laps" picking up speed gradually, as the car was a whole new concept, rear steering and all. He got up to a reasonable speed, so we called him in to look things over, and get a print out of how the chassis was working. Indications were that we were getting some left front wheelspin, and the left rear reading was above the baseline and the right rear was a little far below the baseline, indicating chassis roll. I made a few adjustments, and sent him back out to run some more "hot" laps. He was getting better lap times, and after about 10 laps or so we called him in again, and got more print outs, and it looked a little better, except the left rear, when lifting off the throttle going into the turns the reading was going even further below the baseline. Goodyear put on a new set of "sticker" tires and told him to go back out and run some hard laps, but based on the print outs, don't jump out of the throttle, just ease out of it going into the turns. You all probably know what a sticker tire is, on the tire there is a sticker that tells what size ,etc the tire is, just like your local tire shop. These normally wear off after a lap or two. Gary went back out and ran another 10 laps and came in, and much to our surprise, the sticker was still on the left rear tire, hardly even scuffed a little. It was obvious to all that the left rear was hardly even touching the track! I made a spring change on the right rear, hoping to stop some of the roll. Goodyear boys were walking around scratching their heads, they had never seen anything like this. Well, Gary went back out, and started running real hard, and from where I as sitting it looked like the car was working pretty good, and he was getting much better lap times. Then "wham", coming off turn 2 and through the dog leg he must have thought he was going way too fast to enter turn three, he jumped out of the throttle, I mean, we could all hear the engine RPM drop, and that thing switched ends so quick it was unbelievable. In an instant he was going backwards at probably 150 miles an hour. He got it stopped without hitting anthing somehow. They sent a truck out to tow him back to the pit area, and Gary climbed out and he was some "shakey". I told him that he shouldn't have jumped out of the throttle like that. He said that he hadn't. Well, here come the Goodyear guys with the print out, and pointed out that the throttle position showed that he had backed clear out of the throttle before all the other lines started going crazy, like some kid had scribbled on the print out. That ended our test, and we drug the old horse back to the barn in Long Beach to do some re- engineering. We pulled an old General Macarther,(sp) and said "We shall return!" And we will in my next post.
Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

We got the FWD back to the shop and began to analyse why it was doing some of these bad things. First off we had to consider some basic facts. The car had 82% of the weight on the front wheels, It weighed in at about 1600 pounds, so that meant that the weight on the front wheels was about 1280 pounds, and only 320 pounds or so on the rear wheels. This was because Mickey wanted the weight forward for traction on the drive wheels. This would have been alright if we were doing straightaway runs at Bonneville, but we had to be able to turn this critter at the end of each end of an oval track. Under hard decelleration or braking it was like a "teeter- totter", that's why it switched ends on Gary at Phoenix, he probably hit the brakes at the same time,and I doubt if either rear wheel was on the ground, and around she went. Upon further examination we found that at full bump on the front suspension the right front drive axle CV joints bottomed out, we had made that axle about 5/8 of an inch too long and when it bottomed out it vertually locked the right front suspension, and the car just pivoted around that wheel. We made some different top suspension arms, and moved the steering rack to change the roll center, and camber change, and put some real stiff springs in, they were monsters, looked like a spring off a railroad gondola car. We couldn't figure out what else to do, so we loaded it up and headed off to Phoenix again. This time Sammy was going to drive it. I doubt if we could have ever got Gary back in the seat, reckon he had about all he wanted to do with this car. We got it unloaded and got Sammy strapped in and warned him to take it easy for a few laps, and above all, don't back off the throttle real quick and don't jam the brakes too hard . Just sneak up on it and get a feel for how it handles. He motored around for a few laps, and picked up the speed for 10 laps or so and came in and said that it didn't feel too bad. We fueled it up and sent him back out, and he got faster and faster each lap, getting better lap times than Gary had. Hey, it didn't look too bad, so we had him set and think about it for a while, meanwhile I went up into the grandstand area by the flaggers stand so I could get a better look at how it ran from up there. Sent him out or another run, and I could see that he was getting it on pretty good, looked good from where I was. About 12 laps or so he came smoking out of turn 4 and heading for where I was sitting, and as he went by I noticed that he was turning the steering wheel back and forth and nothing was happening. The steering shaft had broken! He kept his cool an steered it with throttle,he backed of a little, and the car dove to the inside, the gave it a little throttle and it would steer back up, we could hear the engine responding to his movements, and he made it through turn one, and then through turn two, and into the dog leg in the back stretch and almost made it , but just kissed the wall hard enough to knock the wheels off on the right side. He wasn't hurt, and just laughed about it, saying "I almost made it!" The steering shaft had six U-joints in it to snake it up over the engine, and around the front bulkhead and over the transaxle to the steering rack. One of the bolts holding a U-Joint had came out. These were"taper" bolts, and the constant movement of steering back and forth during the testing it had slowly worked loose, and the more it was turned back and forth it flared the tapered hole enough that it just fell out. We found the bolt with the nut still on it, but the hole through the shaft was elongated. Lesson learned: don't use "taper" bolts. Back to Long Beach, and pulled the engine and transaxle out and John Redican and I headed up to Frisco to Huffaker's shop for repairs. Time was getting short to get to Indy, so we had to really hustle to get fixed. More of this episode later.
Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Wayne, I got some new photo software. I'm going to try it out to see if it works. Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Hey!, Now we're cookin', not perfect, but at least I have something to work with. This photo is of course the "infamous" Mickey Thompson front wheel drive, 4 wheel steer car. You can see what I meant by the 82% on the front. There were comments about the cockpit being so far back on BMB, how about this act? It was about 12 1/2 feet from the driver's head to the front of the nose! All of that ahead of the front wheel centerline was the transaxle, oil tank, and a Corvette radiator laying flat. Now you can see what I had to deal with. More to come, Larry

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Wayne, I got some new photo software. I'm going to try it out to see if it works. Larry

My apology for not getting back to you Larry... .It's been a nutty week for me!

Looks like you're getting the hang of it.. You can size the attachments up to 800 pixels wide.. height does not matter...

Actually, in this day and age of bigger monitors and higher resolutions, I'm going to up the size to 900 pixels... That should make things easier and allow some bigger shots to be shown...

Wayne

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

While John and I were up in Frisco repairing the FWD, Mickey rounded up a crew and took the more conventional rear engine to the Indianapolis Speedway To do a test session. This car had never been on an oval track, we had run it up and down a drag strip a few times and that as it. One very unconventional thing about this car was that it had no springs or shock absorbers. It used "Cooper mni-balls" for suspension. Those familiar with the Cooper "Minis" that are still in production In England, and are becoming fashionable again these days may be familiar with this suspension. They used a solid rubber thing that was shaped somewhat like a toilet plunger, and about the same size. Under load they would compress, but they didn't rebound like a metal spring, thus no need for a shock absorber. Strangely enough this system worked quite well, and unlike conventional steel coil springs where we had to have a lot of springs with different strength, lengths, and rates. We could just chuck up a mini-ball in a lathe, and take a cut off the diameter, and then check them in a spring tester and mark them as to their rate, etc. Congdon made a few laps, but the weather in Indy was so bad they didn't get much data, but were satisfied that it was race-able. They had to hustle back to Long Beach and get it painted per the sponsors colors and lettered. John and I got back with the FWD car at about the same time, fortunately. There was no time to do any more testing, Indy 500 time was getting real short. Mickey told me to arrange for painting the FWD, and he would personally tend to the other car. The cars were going to be sponsored by Wynn's Friction Proofing and were to be red and yellow, their company colors. This is where it gets real comical. I sent mine to Dean Jefferies, a popular painter for custom cars and street rods, etc. He painted A.J. Foyt's race cars too at that time. I had mine done in "candy red, candy yellow, and pearl white. Dean outdid himself, it was beautiful! Mickey had chosen to send his car to a guy called "Tweety", who had done a few fiberglass pieces for us and claimed to also be a painter, and would do it real cheap. Several days passed, and no word from "Tweety", so Mickey sent a couple of guys over to his place to pick up the car, thinking that surely he must have it done by that time. When they arrived at "Tweety's" shop it was early evening, and getting dark. They banged on the door, and got no response, so they went around peeping through windows. They spotted "Tweety" slumped over in a chair, but could not see the car. They went aound to the door and started beating on it real hard. After a while the door opened, and standing there was a very bleary eyed "Tweety",drunk as hell. He let them in and took them over to his "paint booth" area, and much to the boy's surprise there was the car. The only problem was that it was blue and white! Of course the boys let him know that it was supposed to be red and yellow, and he said "I don't like red and yellow." Panic set in and the boys called Mickey and told him about this, and naturally Mick went nuts! The next day he sent several people over to sand the car down, and others to get "Tweety" sobered up, and stood by to watch him paint it the proper colors. When they finally returned to the race shop with he car, I was flabbergasted. It looked like, well I won't say it but, you know the word. We were out of time, we had to get the cars back together and head for Indy. They had issued us a double garage, and when the onlookers peered inside to see what the highly publicised Mickey Thompson cars looked like, there were many comments about why the strange liiking FWD was so pretty with the "Candys and Pearls, and the other one so butt ugly. Mickey was pretty sensitive about some things, and he was not a happy camper. That's it for this post, tired. More tomorrow. Larry

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

We got the cars through tech inspection without any problems, and got our "sticker" that was required to get out and start practice at the "Speedway". Both Sammy and Gary were out getting the feel of the cars, and gradually started building up more speed. Gary was getting up to a speed that should get him qualified for the race, but Sammy was having a hell of a time in traffic. He sat so far back in the car that he couldn't tell where that long nose was and didn't want to bump anyone. We put an antenna on the very front of the nose that was abut 2 feet tall that would give him a reference point. The problem was with that is that about 175 MPH down the straightaways the wind would blow it down, guess we should have used a totem pole, or something more substantial. Then we ran into another problem. The short rear body had a hinged top, sort of like a 1940 Ford trunk lid. We had built an accumulator that was tied into the brake system that would allow this thing to pop up under braking, and act as an air brake, and also provide a little down force on the rear wheels. As things would have it Joe Leonard was following Sammy down the front straight into turn one rather closely, and when this thing popped open Leonard thought something was falling off the car and he swerved over and almost hit the wall. To make it worse someone had put a big "Wynns"decal on the underside of the lid, which really got the attention of anybody following. They gave Sammy the "black flag"which meant that he had to get himself into the pits so that the USAC officials could see what the complaints were about. They went completely "bananas", and made us disable this device. Not that it really mattered, I don't think that it did much good anyway. The bad thing was that we had called attention as to what else Mickey had dreamed up. It is better to fly below the radar, and not make any waves at Indy, but now they had someone or something to focus on which really turned them on. If everything is going smoothly these guys get bored, now they had something that they could really use to justify their existance. I played along, and they didn't bother me much with FWD car, but they really started giving Mickey a hard time with the rear engine car. Unfortunately Gary had gone out and was running pretty hard and started leaking oil on the track. He came in and Mick and his crew checked the car over and sent him back out, and again it started spewing oil. The crew checked everything over again, wiped the car clean, and sent him out once more. After a few hot laps it was worse, and USAC called him in and confronted Mickey, and the battle started. They had many heated meetings, and Mickey withdrew the entries and told us to load both cars up and take them back to Long Beach. So ended our 1967 Indy 500 program. After we got back home we decided to do our best to find out why the car was blowing all of this oil out, checked the scavenge pumps, ran the 3- valver on the dyno, and could not duplicate the problem. We decided that it must be a problem in the oil tank and cut it open and after much cutting apart found the problem. There was an air/ oil separater section in the tank that swerled the scavenge oil from the engine to get any air out before it drained into the main part of the oil tank. Stuck in the fitting connected to the scavenge line from the motor was a broken off ceramic tip from a TIG welding torch. I remembered that when the welder was building the tank he made a comment that the cup had broken off the torch, and he couldn't find it. Several of us helped him try to find it to no avail, and decided it probably had fallen on the floor and got ""footballed" off into some unknown spot in the shop. He put on another ceramic tip and proceeded to continue building the oil tank. Strange when a small incident like that can lead to such a major problem and spell the end to a program that was well intended with the hopes of competing at the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" as it was called in those days. This was not the end of the road for the cars though, Mickey Thompson had another use for them. He had quickly put together a plan to take them to the "Bonneville Salt Flats" for some speed records, and had sponsors ready to put up some cash for this deal. "Never a dull moment with""The Mick". Next post we will be off to Bonneville for some wild and humorous attacks on the salt.
Larry

[Pylon1_Mark]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

....and he said "I don't like red and yellow."

I just about fell out of my chair on that one. Great story (as always) Larry. Can't wait to read the next installment on the runs at the salt flats.

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

After we returned back to the race shop in Long Beach after the Indy fiasco, we were doing something, but I have a blank spot in my memory, I recall that there ws something about a Titanium framed drag "Funny Car" , and we built one of those Swamp Boats with an airplane propeller on the back for "Bunky Knudsen" (sp) who was a big gun at General Motors at the time. We built a hopped up Corvair engine for it, and machined a hub to attach a wooden prop. Mickey said we had to rig up some kind of a test stand for this engine/ prop. I had no desire to be working in close proximity of a whirling propeller, so we talked it over, and decided to mount on an old Dodge flat bed truck. I'm sure that my memory serves me right that this truck had no engine in it. A mount was built and the engine was installed, there was plenty of ground clearance for the propeller, hanging off the rear of this old truck. We mounted a fuel tank, battery, etc, and we were ready to give it a test, so I called Mickey. He must have ran at full speed from his office to the race shop, because he was there in a flash, huffing and puffing. Man, this is the kind of thing that really turned him on! He conned Fritz Voight (sp) an old timer who had driven dragsters, and worked for Mickey to be , I guess you call it "designated driver", although there was no intention of driving this thing, just wanted someone to hold the brakes just in case this jury rigged thing tried to move. Mickey jumped up on the truck bed with a look of shear joy in his eyes. Jim Ward checked him out on the switches, starter button, and the hand throttle from an old Stearman or something. Mick fired it up, and it was running pretty good, but there was a serious vibration. He shut it down, and I told him that the prop wasn't tracking right. We pulled the prop through, measuring the tip from a point on the truck bed, and sure enough, it was off by just over a quarter of an inch. Somehow the machinist who made the prop hub had drilled the prop bolt holes off center. Ward and I wandered off to a local sandwich shop for some lunch, and when we got back the problem had been resolved, and Mick was ready to give it another shot. She lit right off and was running smooth. After the engine got a little heat in it Mick started jacking the throttle, really cranking up some RPM's. We had not given a thought to the fact that the prop was facing into the race shop, and the door was open, and parts and pieces were flying everywhere. We waved to Mick to shut the damned thing off. Since the old truck had no engine a bunch of onlookers pushed it out into the street. Fritz wasn't very happy with that situation because he knew Mickey, and knew that this was not a good omen. The Mick climbed aboard again, and lit it off and started giving her some throttle, and the old truck brakes wouldn't hold, it started creeping forward, and Mick just kept adding power. Fritz had no choice but to let off the brakes and try to steer the thing. Off they went, Mickey standing on the flat bed holding onto the motor mount and Fritz trying his best to miss parked cars, and disappeared around a corner. We could no longer see them, but could hear Mick getting off and off the throttle. Shortly we saw them go by, up at a cross street, and they disappeared again. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes, and we could hear Mick get off the throttle, and finally we saw them coming towards the race shop. Mick shut the Corvair off, and Fritz somehow had enough brakes to get it stopped. Mickey was smiling like a Cheshire cat, and poor ol' Fritz was steaming. He was mad enough to strangle Mick, but when he heard all of us cheering and yelling, he calmed down. He had survived a "Mickey Deal" and our cheering must have brought back old memories of his glory days of winning drag races. He fell into the mood of things and started strutting around with a big smile. "He was the hero of the day" again. Mickey could hardly wait to call Bunky and give him the news that his "Swamp Boat" was all but done. However, when he called him, Bunky told him the Corvair boat thing was off. He had just left GM to take over Ford. A few days prior to this fiasco two truck loads of Chevy engines had been delivered for the Bonneville deal Mickey had set up. The boat thing and all of the Chevy engines went to the warehouse, and in a few days a truck load of Ford engines arrived. The Bonneville caper was still on, only with Fords instead of Chevys. I didn't get the post that I mentioned in my last post about Attacking the Salt, but this caper was too good to pass up. Bonneville in next post, I promise.
Larry

[kiwiracefan]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Larry, this is amazing, im really enjoying the story and the corvair swamp boat episode is fantastic, cant wait for the next installment.

[number17fan]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Larry
Please keep it coming, this is great stuff!

[bluffman]

Re: Critical Mass - Blind Man's Bluff = SPLIT THREAD

Shortly after the swamp boat incident Mickey told me to build a bubble canopy sort of thing, but not plexiglass, he wanted it made of aluminum with a small windshield, and a small window on each side for the FWD car. I knew that this had something to do with the Bonneville program he had been putting together, but he gave me no hints as to what we were going to do there. I made a plywood "buck" and took it to California Metal Shapers, a well known shop of real craftsmen who could do magical things with metal. In about a week they called and said that it was done, and could be picked up. I drove up and fetched it, and it was beautiful. I was hesitant to start cutting windows and such. It was like desicrating a fine piece of art. I had to cut it into three pieces, a windshield section, a center section that hinged over to the right, much like an ME-109, and the rear part that blended into the rear body part for streamlining. Actually, it looked pretty cool, that long nose and hood flowing back into this canopy, it just looked "racy". Then I got the word, we were going to take it Bonneville for the annual "Speed Week" and try for some kind of record. It still had a 3-valve Chevy in it and I think the whole reason for this caper was that it would be the last chance to run one of these motors that he had created, since we were switching over to Fords. We had a hell of a time getting it through tech inspection. They wanted me to take the body off so that they could inspect the frame. I tried to explain that it was a monocoque, and the body was also the frame, then they wanted to see the fuel tank, and I told them, well, I said that the body/ frame was also the fuel tank. This all got very confusing and these "old timers" had about had enough of me and my remarks. These guys were used to inspecting T- Roadsters, belly tankers, all kinds of "hot rods". I got ahold of Mickey and told him about my dilema with the inspectors. He knew some men up there who were "airplane types"' and had them explain the monocoque construction. The inspectors finally gave in and then they had to figure out what "Class" we would be in. After much ballyhoo, they determined that what we had was a "C-Lakester". This class car was required to have a "drag shoot". Now I had to figure out how and where I was going to put a parachute on the car, and how to run a cable to deploy it. There was a substantial tubing structure in the tail end to mount the chute, but the only way to run the deploy cable was over the top of the body, and after Mickey got all strapped in I would put the cable inside, and then close the canopy. That put the "D" ring inside where he could easily reach it. The inspectors blessed this set- up, and we were cleared to run. If I remember it right it was something like 3 miles to accellerate, then you went through a 1 mile speed trap, and had about another 3 miles to get stopped. You didn't have to start from a dead stop, it was allowed to have a push vehicle to get you going. We had this old 62 Ford tow truck that had a big Pontiac engine in it, much like the engines Mick had in the 409 MPH Land Speed Car. Ward was the push truck driver, and when we got the signal to go, Jim hit the gas, and away Mick went for a practice run, at about 75-80 MPH Mick dumped the clutch, and the 3- valver lit off, and pulled away slightly, but not as fast as Jim thought he would, and he swerved over and passed Mickey. This was not cool! Mick spotted the truck, and stood on the gas and pulled away. Jim came back and was laughing like crazy. Mickey's intention on this practice run was to accellerate slowly and feel how the front wheel drive was going to hook up without spinning the tires, and getting into a torque- steer problem. He had neglected to tell Ward of his plan. The car was towed back to the pit area, and Mickey was happy with the way it drove, and the engine was dry, no oil leaks or anything. It was decided that since it was getting late in the day ,we would park it, and make a speed attempt the following day. The next day we put the car in line, and the closer we got to the front of the line , the "bumpier" Mickey got. It came time to get Mick strapped in, and I was leaning in helping to tighten the belts, and then reached for the chute cable to put it inside, and Mick slammed the canopy shut on my fingers, and I jumped back, with the cable still in my hand, and Jim couldn't see what had happened and started pushing him off, with the "D" ring and cable flapping in the breeze outside of the canopy. As luck would have it, at about the 3 mile mark a water hose popped, and there ws a lot of hot water squirting back on Mickey's feet and legs. He reached for the chute cable, and of course it wasn't there, but he could see it through the side window. To make a long story short, he had opened the canopy and climbed out of the seat, and as the timers said, "He came through the speed trap at about 100 MPH sitting on top of the car", and coasted to a stop. He later made another attempt,and I don't recall what the speed was, but it wasn't enough for a record. The Mick had had about all the fun he could stand, and we loaded up and went home. After a few days we began the program to switch over to Ford engines. He told me to stuff a 427 Ford into the FWD car. All I could think to say was "HUH?" I didn't quite know how I was going to put one of those monsters in a place designed for a small block Chevy, especially since it was a monocoque car. Some of the mono would need to be cut away, and I was concerned about the structural integrity of the tub. It took a few days of cutting, and riveting new panels in place, but I got it in. Still a lot to consider, like where and how are we going to snake the steering shaft over and around this engine. Jim and I took it off the jack stands, and set her on the ground, and stood back and admired our accomplishment and left for the day. Next morning I went in the shop and something didn't look right. Then I spotted it, the 427 oil pan was touching the floor! I looked a little closer, and I could see wrinkles in the monocoque. So much for restoring structural integrity! I will leave it there for this post. Next post I will fix this problem.
Larry